Last night Fabio Capello announced his 24-man England squad for the upcoming Euro qualifiers with Bulgaria and Switzerland. These are the first competitive matches since England's disastrous World Cup campaign but how much has he really changed? At first glance it seems a lot, eleven of the players who were named in the initial 23-man squad for the World Cup are missing. But on closer inspection, how much has the Italian manager really done differently? With John Terry, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand (who was in the initial World Cup squad for the World Cup before his injury saw Michael Dawson replace him) all injured, Jamie Carragher and Emile Heskey retiring from international football, and David James being 40 years old and in the Championship, those decision's were already made for Capello. In fact he has only really dropped five players. Leaving out keeper Rob Green after his howler in Rustenburg and injury liability Ledley King were again quite straight forward decisions and ditching reserve left-back Stephen Warnock is hardly a shock move. Joe Cole's yet to impact at Liverpool which leaves the overlooking of Spurs winger Aaron Lennon as the only real 'surprise' exclusion.
As for what has come into the squad, who is going to make that much difference? Up front, Carlton Cole has been tested before and had little success. His form for West Ham hasn't exactly been electrifying lately, but Darren Bent is surely deserving of more of a chance at international level after his exploits with Sunderland. With Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe both injury doubts despite inclusion, he may just get that chance. In central defence some much-needed quality alternatives for the increasingly less reliable Terry and Ferdinand have been called up in the form of Dawson, Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka and Joleon Lescott . The latter two having recovered from their own recent injury set-backs have been impressive for their clubs and it will be interesting to see which two make the starting line-up. In goal, with Joe Hart getting off to an incredible start to the season for Manchester City and Ben Foster doing similarly well as Hart's successor at Birmingham, the recent worries for that position already seem long gone. It is somewhat surprising to see Scott Carson recalled as third-choice keeper given his history with England but he has done well at West Brom and deserves to be given another chance in the squad, if not as first choice keeper. 20-year old Kieran Gibbs is called up as cover for Ashley Cole despite not featuring for Arsenal yet this season, but he impressed in the second half of the recent Hungary friendly and with the other English left-backs vying for the position all distinctly mediocre ( think Warnock, Leighton Baines, Paul Konchesky) Capello is probably right to go with youth in this position.
Leaving Theo Walcott out of the World Cup squad was one of Capello's most controversial calls and it is unsurprising to see him back in the fold after a blistering start to the season with Arsenal, where he has already equalled his goals tally for last season just three games in. With Adam Johnson preferred to £25m David Silva at Manchester City in their last two games, it is refreshing to see England having two wingers in good form, and Ashley Young from Aston Villa is a very good alternative who has been unfortunate to be overlooked by Capello in the past. Shaun Wright-Phillips' return is perhaps the most surprising but he has scored goals for England in the past and could still do a good job for his country. Overall it seems like Capello has a good squad to take on the upcoming qualifiers. Despite calls from some for a complete overhaul, the likes of Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard and Gareth Barry all remain, which I believe is the correct thing to do. Creating a successful team is not an overnight process as can be seen by the Spain team who had largely been playing together for many years before their recent Euros and World Cup success. The first test for this post-World Cup team will be stern, Bulgaria and Switzerland are no walkovers, but it will have to be successful for the Three Lions to renew a nation's hope of making an impact in Poland and Ukraine two years from now.
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